Ole Miss, the school in Oxford formerly known for tradition, is busily changing more things certain people consider politically incorrect.
Confederate Drive will be changed to Chapel Drive.
What a relief. There is no telling how many current and former Ole Miss students have lost sleep over that street’s name.
According to the Clarion-Ledger, the Sensitivity and Respect Committee made the recommendations, and, of course the Lyceum, eager not to offend the PC Police, jumped right on board.
Don’t worry, Chancellor Dan Jones’ has emphatically said the school will not ditch the name “Ole Miss.”
On the other hand, a news release from his pusillanimous administration stated, “Both names (University of Mississippi and Ole Miss) will be used in appropriate contexts going forward, with particular emphasis going to ‘Ole Miss’ in athletics and in representation of the university’s spirit.” (Note the phrase “appropriate contexts.”)
Rest assured this is university administration PC double speak, for “kiss the Ole Miss goodbye five years from now.”
(During the assassination of Colonel Rebel, school authorities learned that the alumni lemmings could only stomach so much “progress” at one time, so they are portioning it out.)
When are the backhoes coming to remove the bodies from the Confederate Cemetery behind the coliseum?
Fortunately, the job was made simpler around 1900, when workers -- obviously led by some divine politically-correct vision -- removed all the headstones to make mowing the grass easier. Now, the 700 or so graves are marked only by a single monument.
How much will it cost to move that (C-word) statue in the Circle? It could be auctioned off to fund Sensitivity and Respect Committee investigations and activities ... sort of like a reverse Mississippi Sovereignty Commission.